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Published: January 14th 2012
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I dreaded today's long drive to Khuri Village, near Jaisalmer, but the road was actually really good and we didn't see any dead camels. We did, however, see a lot of live animals on the road- goats, sheep, cows, a deer, and camels, of course. Who knew India had so many camels? Rajasthan certainly does. And on the road there are very few cars, but a lot of big trucks transporting just about anything you can imagine. And we saw a lot of people just standing around, young men mostly. Standing around in villages, at intersections, in the middle of nowhere. Just waiting. For what? Work? A bus? Life? It's sad. But many countries I have visited have young men standing around doing nothing - Vietnam, Cambodia, Jordan, Turkey especially. So many people with no work. And sometimes, so many who don't want to work...
We stopped at a Midway along the way where I had a gorgeous malai kofte, and when we were fairly close to Jaisalmer Hardev went a little bit out of the way to show us a pond where there were loads of birds. Annette likes birds, so he took us to see them. A crowd
In Bikaner
outside out hotel the morning we left soon came to see the two white women looking at birds that the villagers see every day. There were other tourists at the pond when we left and they were getting more attention than we were, luckily. I am cautious about talking to people, even children, just waiting for them to ask me for money. Maybe I feel guilty for being a 'have' when the people staring at me are 'have-nots.'
We finally arrived in Khuri Village around 4PM and I had not made a reservation to stay at any of the guesthouses due to a misunderstanding of my itinerary. So Hardev took us to Krishna Guesthouse. He had been there before, of course. The price of 2400 Rs included a room with private bath, camel ride to the dunes to see the sunset, dinner and breakfast, and a traditional village dance by the fire in the evening. We arrived late so were rushed to get on our camels and head off into the sunset. Annette and I had ridden camels before and didn't really care about it, but they assured us this was the best way to see the sunset. And it was. There were loads of camels
on the dunes and the other tourists were mostly Indian. The sunset itself was a bit underwhelming but we enjoyed the camels. They call it a camel safari, which is a bit of a stretch, but it was worth it. Two Indian guys in their 20's led our camels, and once we got out of sight of the guesthouse, the guy leading Annette's camel asked if he could sit behind her. We both thought this was strange and said no. I asked our driver about it and he said it is normal for them to do that, but I have my doubts. It was strange.
We rode the camels back to the guesthouse and by now, it was dark. We listened to some traditional Indian music by our campfire and watched a gorgeous young Indian girl dance. She wore a jingly, lively dress and was quite a good dancer and she got the audience involved. Dinner was very good and we certainly had plenty to eat. After two beers we were off to bed after this long day with such a long drive.
Tomorrow we head to Jaisalmer which is only 40km away. I am looking forward to
more walking and less riding. And I'm a bit chaffed after that camel ride, so sitting is not the most comfortable right now...
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